Hospital eye appointment didn't go well - what to do?

Hi
Sorry to hear you’re having so much trouble - I hope you get the right treatment soon to make things as good as they can be
I too suffer quite badly from dry eyes , sometimes worse this time of year when inside with the heating on etc. I’ve tried lots of preservative free different eye drops but the very best for me is the preservative free Hylo Forte which you can get on prescription or buy for about £10. Hope this helps

I’m sorry you had an unsatisfactory appointment. You can contact PALS (Patient Advice and Liason Service) at the hospital and explain your concerns, and they should be able to help you.

It might be worth paying for a private appt to see if anything can be done.

I hope you will be able to discuss this with your GP. They should be the ones helping you through this complicated condition. (I am sorry if they are not). Make sure they have received a full report from the eye consultant and ask them to go through it with you.

You can ask for a second opinion. Have a look around and see if there's someone who is likely to be better. See your GP and ask them write to them, you can do this under the NHS.

I have had problems with the hospital eye clinic. I had cataract surgery in one eye, which was not necessary, and has not improved my sight in the least! I've also been prescribed Hylo Forte for dry eyes, but these do not help the condition at all. I have had more support and help from my local Specsavers! Speak to your GP and insist on getting the treatment you require. Good luck.

I’m so sorry hugshelp, I can only imagine how frustrated you must feel. Can you push your GP for a different specialist?

I can only comment on one specific and that is the drops. Quite a number of people are allergic to the preservatives in eye drops. I am one of them and had to stop wearing contact lens for that reason, all the fluids contained preservatives.

It means the slightest thing wrong with my eyes I have to see the doctor to get a prescription for preservative free eye drops. As you say they are available on prescription only, heaven knows why, no one else does!

On everything else I am with your DH, I would have sat down drawn up an item by item list of all the things that were not done properly in your appointment and gone up to the PALS unit and played merry hell over it.

Thank you for all the advice. Unfortunately I can't use the hydro forte as I'm allergic to the Sodium Hyaluronate - which is in an awful lot of eye drops.
After a lot of messing around managed to get a doctors appointment for late next week - that's the soonest I can get in.
Hubby rang the hospital and explained we thtink something went wrong. So the doctor kept insisting my eyes had improved a tiny bit and trying to explain why that might be while DH was saying, but I was there, and she couldn't even read the top line, and I always go with her and she does normally does a fair bit better than that. You must have the wrong results. Then the dr was saying but I can only work with the results I'm given. Well yes we know but they're wrong! Then he eventually said 'I've got the results for October here in front of me' - but my latest appointment was 2 days ago - they did the test there and then, but he didn't seem to be using them.
I honestly think (though it's just a guess) that because I had been seen twice as an emergency due to the PVD in October he had the discharge letter written up before I went in (or at least mentally) and paid no heed whatsoever to the results on the day or to what I was saying. Which is probably why the exam took about 2 minutes while I'm normally there ages and have loads of tests. Anyway he eventually agreed to write to get me a new appointment, but it was all very vague and I honestly don't think he grasped what was going on even then.
Will try and get more help from the GP. Fingers crossed.

Contact the PALS office but remember they are funded by the hospital but at least your poor experience will be recorded. I would tell them you don’t want to see this doctor again as you have no faith in him.

Find a local forum or a forum for people with similar problems and ask for recommendations. I’ve also had one off private appointments twice because of incompetent GPs and a need to get the right information.

I've asked our Eye Health Information Service what their thoughts were about this, and this was their reply:

"Gosh – not sure where to start!

"I think that there is a lot of miscommunication here between patient and practitioner. There are several things going on here and unfortunately dry eye is often underestimated as a cause of symptoms.

"Not all charts are the same. Charts don’t always have the same starting point, so the top of one chart may be 6/24 but that might be half way down another one. For example, my chart in the RNIB clinic at Judd Street starts at 6/60, but in private practice the default top line is 6/19. I guess what I’m saying is that they may think it was worse, but it might just have been a different starting point on the chart.

"I would suggest she speaks to her GP or high-street optometrist, and requests a referral to an ophthalmologist who specialises in dry eye or the external eye. It is important to note that dry eye is a chronic condition that will worsen when you are unwell, tired, aircon environment, central heating or dusty environments – so sometimes you need to increase the treatment and sometimes you go through better patches. In any case, once it’s better controlled you can see whether the other eye problems are also causing blur.

"It is extremely unusual to be allergic to sodium hyaluronate – usually allergies are to preservatives, not the active ingredients, so I would suggest that an external eye specialist could check this for them. There are plenty of alternatives in the old-style artificial tears, but they’re rarely prescribed because they don’t typically work so well.

"GPs sometimes don’t prescribe artificial tears now – it’s one of the medications that they advise patients that they have to buy over the counter.

"As it is so complex – might be worth just suggesting they call us so we can help her (0303 123 9999, Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm, and Saturday 9am to 1pm)! But if that’s not appropriate, then I'd suggest they request a referral to an external eye specialist, not a general ophthalmologist.

"Maybe a referral to an Eye Clinic Liaison Officer, if there’s one available at her eye clinic, would be useful, as it sounds like a communication issue as much as anything else. Also, she could really do with being referred to her local low vision service if she is struggling."

I wonder whether the dry eyes might be caused by blepharitis since dry eyes are one of the syptoms, maybe you could ask an optician about this? I use blephaclean wipes and no eye drops.

Hello
I'm 60
Very short sighted and have had migraine auras for years
Recently referred to specialist as have high eye pressures
Went last week and was told I have to have scans as optic nerve has a small change
As the days have gone on I'm trying to connect all this together, any help appreciated

Altho the specialist asked if I had any questions he wasn't really answering and was very rushed with a warning at the end if any problems with sight go to a and e
I'm confused with it all and awaiting the letter from the appointment
Thanks

Mandy moo, as someone who has been a regular at the eye clinic for years I know how ‘conveyor belt’ it can feel. The consultants secretary can be very helpful and, if you don’t hear about your scan appointment soon, you should check with her.

Hugshelp, I hope things are getting sorted. My daughter found the Dry Eye Clinic at her local Specsavers very helpful.

I have dry eyes. The best thing I have found for it is an ointment (preservative-free) to put on at night. There is a carry-over effect during the day, so I don't often need to use the eyedrops.
It is called Hycosan Night, and contains retinol palmate (Vitamin A) liquid paraffin, wool fat (lanolin) and white soft vaseline. As you can see, it is mostly lubrication, which stops the eyeball drying up overnight and being sticky and irritated in the morning. This was the most annoying symptom - my eyes would be streaming from the irritation, and eyedrops didn't make much difference.
This might not improve your vision, but if they helped the dry eyes you could see what else needed attention. I bought mine on Amazon. It is quite a bit cheaper to buy three tubes at a time. The tubes are tiny but you only use a small amount at a time, so they last quite a while.

teabagwoman

Hugshelp, I hope things are getting sorted. My daughter found the Dry Eye Clinic at her local Specsavers very helpful.

hugshelp posted this in November 2019

Great reply John
I also wondered if the charts started at different points but know nothing of the other issues.

I was also thinking of PALS.

I would say you want to have a specific consultant (research and see who is particularly interested in your specific issues). I'm afraid I also look at when they qualified in the hope that I can find one old enough to have bags of experience but also young enough to be actively open to new ideas.

Good luck.

teabagwoman
I know what you mean about the conveyer belt
My Late mother in law was blind. I went with her to appointments.
From a statement the Dr made it was obvious that he didn’t know ?
I pointed this out to him and he said oh is she and proceeded to look through his notes.

I had a series of eye appointments for an eye problem with three different results three different doctors none of which were useful . Phoned up the eye clinic and asked who the senior doctor was for opthalmology and wrote to him setting out all the differing advice I had had. He then saw me himself and got what was wrong right away . I have preservative free eye drops on prescription which luckily ,living in Scotland, are free as I use lots of them . Do not buy any that are not preservative free.